U.S. stocks finished off their best month in a year on Friday, with the Dow and S&P 500 clinching fresh record closing highs to cap off a blockbuster November. The Russell 2000 finished Friday just shy of what would have been its first record close since November 2021.

November was the best month of the year for S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average, and the best since May for the Nasdaq Composite.

Stocks closed with solid gains as Wall Street put the finishing touches on one of its best months of the year.

"There were some warning signs from Target, but if you look at personal income and retail sales, they have been strong all year," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities, in an interview. "That suggests the consumer has buying power."

Stocks opened Friday in positive territory and stayed there through the early close. Volume was understandably light on Black Friday, but those who did show up for the abbreviated session were in the mood to buy tech stocks,

Shares are mostly higher in Europe and Asia, tracking last week's gains on Wall Street. Analysts said investors were viewing President-elect Donald Trump's choice of billionaire investor Scott Bessent as his nominee for Treasury secretary as a relatively market-friendly choice.

Target’s stock was down more than 20% in afternoon trading, compared with a 0.6% decline for the S&P 500 index, according to FactSet data, at last check. The S&P 500’s consumer-staples sector was slumping 0.4% on Wednesday afternoon.